Information from Chapter 4

1. Georgia
and the American Experience
Chapter 4: 1477-1752
Settlement of the
Thirteenth Colony
Study Pr esentation
© 2005 Clairmont Press

2. Section 1:
An Age of Exploration
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– What were the effects of the
interactions of Europeans and Native
Americans?

5. Spain and the Age of Exploration
• Columbus discovered San Salvador Island
(part of today’s Bahamas) in 1492.
• Columbus later explored the coasts of
Central and South America and other
Caribbean islands.
• Amerigo Vespucci sailed along the South
American coast in 1499; a mapmaker
named the new land “America.”

6. Hernando De Soto Searches Georgia
for Gold
• In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, with
hundreds of men, marched north from Tampa,
Florida into southwest Georgia (near today’s
Albany).
• De Soto’s weapons, plated armor, and horses
overwhelmed the Native Americans; thousands of
American Indians in Georgia died, many from
disease (smallpox) brought by the Spaniards.
• The Spaniards marched across Georgia into
South Carolina, but never found the gold they
sought.

8. On Monday, the twenty-ninth of March, they left from there for Ichisi, and it rained so much, and a small
river swelled in such a manner, that if they bad not made much haste to cross, all of the army would have
been endangered. This day Indian men and women came forth to receive them. The women came clothed
in white, and they made a fine appearance, and they gave to the Christians tortillas of corn and some
bundles of spring onions exactly like those of Castile, as fat as the tip of the thumb and more. And that
was a food which helped them much from then on; and they ate them with tortillas, roasted and stewed
and raw, and it was a great aid to them because they are very good. The white clothing in which those
Indian women came clothed are some blankets of both coarse and fine linen. They make the thread of
them from the bark of the mulberry trees; not from the outside but rather from the middle; and they know
how to process and spin and prepare it so well and weave it, that they make very pretty blankets. And
they put one on from the waist down, and another tied by one side and the top placed upon the shoulders,
like those Bohemians or Egyptians who are in the habit of sometimes wandering through Spain. The
thread is such that he who found himself there certified to me that he saw the women spin it from that
bark of mulberry trees and make it as good as the most precious thread from Portugal that the women in
Spain procure in order to sew, and some more thin and even, and stronger. The mulberry trees are exactly
like those of Spain, and as large and larger; but the leaf is softer and better for silk, and the mulberries
better for eating and even larger than those from Spain, and the Spaniards also made good use of them
many times, in order to sustain themselves.
They arrived that day at a town of a cacique subject to Ichisi, a pretty town and with plenty of food, and
he [the cacique] gave them willingly of what he had, and they rested there on Tuesday, and then on
Wednesday, the last day of March, the Governor and his army departed, and they arrived at the Great
River, where they had many canoes in which they crossed very well and arrived at the town of the lord,
who was one-eyed, and he gave them very good food and fifteen Indians to carry the burdens. And as he
was the first who came in peace, they did not wish to be tiresome. They were there Thursday, the first of
April, and they placed a cross on the mound of the town and informed them through the interpreter of the
sanctity of the cross, and they received it and appeared to adore it with much devotion. by Rodrigo
Rangel, Hernando de Soto's Private Secretary

12. Spain’s Early Missions in Georgia
• In 1566, Spain established missions on Georgia’s
Cumberland Island and St. Catherine’s Island,
called Santa Catalina. During the same century,
posts were established at Sapelo and St. Simon’s
Island.
• The Spanish missionaries called the region Guale
(pronounced “Wallie”) after the Guale Indians.
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14. Section 2:
English Settlement of
the New World
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– What caused a rivalry between
England and Spain in the New
World?

15. English Settlements in the New World
• The English established colonies on North America’s
Atlantic coast throughout the 1600s. The goals of the
colonists varied, from religious mission, gaining wealth to
bettering their lives.
• Great Britain wanted raw materials from the New World’s
colonies, which it would manufacture into finished goods
and sell to other countries. This was mercantilism.
• By 1686, as the English colonies reached as far south as
South Carolina, the Spanish retreated from Guale to St.
Augustine, Florida. Great Britain wanted a “buffer” colony
to protect the English colonists from Spanish Florida.

16. The English Influence in the
Georgia Colony
• The French began colonizing the Gulf coast and parts of
Alabama. England began worrying about the French and
Spanish threats to its colonial claims.
• In 1721, the English established Fort King George at the
mouth of the Altamaha River, near today’s Darien. The fort
was a “warning point” for invaders from Spanish Florida.
The fort was abandoned after six years.
• Although Great Britain claimed Georgia in 1663, it didn’t
begin making plans to settle the territory until 1717.
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18. Section 3:
The Colonization of
Georgia
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– Why was the Georgia colony
founded?

19. Georgia Becomes a Colony
• James Edward Oglethorpe and 20 other influential men in
Great Britain made a plan to create a colony for the
working poor. They envisioned a colony for people who
faced jail time for bad debts.
• In 1732, King George II created a charter allowing 21
Trustees, including Oglethorpe, to create a Georgia colony
and oversee it for 21 years. It included the land between
the Savannah and Altamaha rivers and extended west to
the Pacific Ocean.
• Oglethorpe promised that silk, dyes, wine, spices, and
semi-tropical fruit would be sent from Georgia back to
England.

20. The First Georgia Colonists
• Few debtors, former prisoners, or working poor ever made
it to Georgia during its early settlement.
• Georgia’s first settlers were given land, tools, and food.
They promised to defend the colony from invaders and to
grow trees that would attract silk worms.
• Between 114 and 125 settlers sailed from England on the
ship Ann in 1732. Oglethorpe befriended Tomochichi, chief
of the Yamacraw Indians.
• Tomochichi led the settlers to Yamacraw Bluff overlooking
the Savannah River. This became the first settlement of
the new Georgia colony.

21. Savannah: Georgia’s Planned City
• Oglethorpe, surveyor Noble Jones, and Colonel
William Bull designed the city of Savannah and
built it along the Savannah River to facilitate
shipping.
• The streets formed several squares that were
divided into blocks (called “tythings”) and wards.
The center of each square was for social, political,
and religious gatherings.
• All but three of Oglethorpe's original squares exist
in Savannah today.
• Today, nearly 150,000 people live in Savannah.
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22. Section 4:
Building a New Home
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– In what ways did Georgia expand
and succeed as a colony?

23. New Colonists Arrive in Georgia
• Catholics were not allowed to settle in Georgia under the
charter signed by King George II.
• Forty original settlers died in the first year. In July 1733, 42
Jews were allowed to settle in Georgia, including a muchneeded doctor.
• In 1734, a group of German protestants from Salzburg
arrived, and settled a town called Ebenezer, about 25
miles from Savannah. In 1736, they moved to Red Bluff
and settled New Ebenezer.
• Oglethorpe and Chief Tomochichi returned from a trip to
England in 1736 with 300 more settlers, including German
protestants from Salzburg and Saxony. Religious leaders
John and Charles Wesley also arrived in Georgia.

24. Georgia’s Colonists Become Discontent
• Regulations enforced by Oglethorpe did not allow rum
trade, buying large tracts of land, or use of slave labor.
• South Carolina used slave labor to successfully grow rice,
tobacco, and cotton on large plantations. Farmers in
Georgia wanted the same “success” that South Carolina
farmers had.
• Many Georgians moved to places in the colony where they
basically could live as they wished.
• By 1742, Georgians were allowed to buy and sell rum.
Slavery was introduced in 1750. The colony named for
King George II was changing.

26. The incident that gave its name to the war had occurred in
1731 when the British brig Rebecca was boarded by the
Spanish coast guard La Isabela, commanded by Julio León
Fandiño. After boarding, Fandiño cut off the left ear of the
Rebecca's captain, Robert Jenkins, who had been accused of
piracy. Fandiño told Jenkins, "Go, and tell your King that I
will do the same, if he dares to do the same." In March
1738, Jenkins was ordered to attend Parliament, presumably
to repeat his story before a committee of the House of
Commons. According to some accounts, he produced the
severed ear when he attended, although no detailed record of
the hearing exists. The incident was considered alongside
various other cases of "Spanish Depredations upon the
British Subjects," and was perceived as an insult to the
honour of the nation and a clear act of war.

27. The War Against Spain
• The War of Jenkin’s Ear broke out between Great Britain
and Spain in 1739, and lasted until 1748. Oglethorpe
organized an army of about 2,000 men with plans to
capture Spanish forts in Florida. Spain responded and
forced the Georgians, South Carolinians, and their Indian
allies to retreat to St. Simon’s Island.
• The Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742 caused the Spanish
to flee Georgia, marking the end to Spanish threats.
Georgia’s southern border was protected.
• Oglethorpe left the Georgia colony for England in 1743
and never returned.

29. The Post-Oglethorpe Era Begins
• Three different men served as president of the Georgia
colony from the time Oglethorpe left the colony until 1754:
William Stephens, Henry Parker, and Patrick Graham.
• In 1752, one year before the initial 21-year charter was to
expire, the trustees returned Georgia to the authority of
King George II.
• In its first 20 years as a colony, Georgia’s population grew
to 5,500 people, of which one-third were slaves.
Protestants from Europe found safe haven in Georgia.
• Treaties with Native Americans and victory over the
Spanish settlers in Florida provided security to the Georgia
colonists.

30. Early Georgia Colony
Accomplishments
• The Bethesda Orphans Home was established in
Ebenezer.
• The orphanage later became Bethesda House School,
where many of Georgia’s early leaders were educated.
• The Methodist Church was founded by John and Charles
Wesley.
• The first Sunday School in America is established by the
Wesley brothers.
• A successful court system was established and
maintained.
• Women were able to inherit property.
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